U-M passes midway point of nationwide RecycleMania contest

More than halfway through RecycleMania, U-M students, faculty, and staff have collected 374,282 pounds of recyclables, putting the university in sixth place for total pounds of recycling collected.

This semester marks the fifth year of U-M’s participation in RecycleMania, a nationwide collegiate recycling and waste reduction competition that includes more than 600 schools. The competition runs from Jan. 17 to March 27 and encourages students, faculty, and staff to reduce their waste and recycle what’s left.

U-M is participating in four categories: Gorilla Prize (total pounds of recyclables), Per Capita (pounds of recyclables per person), Waste Minimization (total waste per person), and Grand Champion (recycling rate).

Currently, U-M is ahead of Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio State in terms of total recycling collected. To learn more about RecycleMania, go to www.recyclemania.org.

In conjunction with RecycleMania U-M also is conducting the fourth annual Recycling Champions competition, an intra-campus waste reduction and recycling contest. Thirty eight buildings are competing to see who has the highest recycling rate, the most improved recycling rate, and reduces their waste the most.

So far, competing buildings have recycled 274,863 pounds of material. Visit www.recycle.umich.edu to see how competing buildings stack up.